The PS Vita: High Hopes and Paranoid Pessimism

Posted by: Carl J.D. Close

As a fan of most things Sony since I came into possession of my very first PlayStation at age eight, I was understandably excited about the introduction of the newest Sony console, the PlayStation Vita, at E3.  However, my enthusiasm at this would-be monumental event for any Sony diehard began slowly diminishing as I read the official description of the Vita on Sony’s website.  The processing power, dual analog sticks (a second analog stick apparently having less gaming applications in the PSP-3000 than a microphone), 3G connection, and relatively low price of the Vita are all promising features, but Sony seems to be stacking on gimmicks to make up for the PSP’s lack thereof.  A multitouch screen, Six Axis sensors, and two cameras (for “augmented reality” which brings to mind a mix of The Matrix and Weird Science for some reason) are all new features of the Vita.  Wait a second.  Aren’t all of those features borrowed from competing game consoles?  Why yes, yes they are.  In an apparent attempt at cornering the market in ridiculous gimmicks, Sony has taken the cameras of the Xbox 360, the motion sensing of the Wii, the touch pad of the DS, and the potential for failure of anyone wearing a red shirt in a ground mission with Captain Kirk and shoved them into the 5-inch display of the PS Vita.

Besides the obvious gaming fads incorporated in its design, one massive threat is directly stated in the Vita’s description: games compatible with the PS3.  This feature sounds good in theory, unless you take a look on all of the follow-up and PS3 compatible games released for the PSP.  With few exceptions, these games were nothing more than gutted, half-assed attempts at squeezing the diehards for every penny possible. 

A shining example of this hand-held mediocrity is the PSP’s Metal Gear follow-up entitled, Metal Gear Portable Ops Plus.  MGPOP was a sequel to Metal Gear in the same sense that Avian Flu was a sequel to SARS.  It has the same potential for greatness and target audience as its predecessor, but lacks the impact and bloodshed.  Although the player is allowed to construct his own team of agents with their own unique skills (which is done by kidnapping and brainwashing enemy operatives, just like the CIA!), key figures like Snake, Otacon and, well, everyone else are absent except for brief and forgettable cameos.  The controls were also clumsy (thanks in part to the PSP’s lack of a second analog stick), especially for a game that requires the character to be stealthy and agile.  But wherever there are steaming piles of shit, flowers can be found and, in this case, that flower is Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines.  Bloodlines picks up where the original AC left off; Altair is hunting down the remnants of the Templar order and in doing so kidnaps the former leader of the Templar’s girlfriend.  Hilarity ensues.  Although plagued with the same control clumsiness of MGPOP, Bloodlines counters this by dumbing down the AI and making the game badass in general.  So, in my experience, making games compatible with the PS3 has roughly a 50% success rate, which would be fine, if such games didn’t account for 90% of the games available for the PSP. 

As it stands, the success of the PS Vita hinges on game developers creativity with the new gimmicks and willingness to release stand-alone games for the Vita alone or at least be willing to not gut titles released on multiple consoles.